Disney/ABC’s procedural drama Will Trent took a political turn this week as the show touched on the issue of drag queens and the sexualization of children, as well as anti-cop sentiment. You can probably guess which side the show was on for both issues.
At the opening of Tuesday’s episode, “We Are Family,” the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) team is investigating the murder of an “extremely conservative, extremely divisive” judge, Deidre.
When the investigation leads them to a drag club, the team is confused as to why a conservative judge would go there. They enter the club to gather more clues, only to find the judge’s son works there and that the club has been the target of bomb threats and a “weirdo” protester outside:
Glinda: I tell you what. Mama needs a break. Why don't you tip your servers, lick your lover, grab a drink, and we'll be back in a drag 10?
Will: Hi, ma'am. I'm Special Agent Will Trent. This is Detective Angie Polaski.
Glinda: Ooh, kind of them to send a man who dresses up.
Will: Oh, thank you for noticing.
Angie: Don't encourage him.
Glinda: Anyway, took you long enough to get here. I put those complaints in months ago. Come on. Alright, so... Here's everything we have. Except for the bomb threats. Those happen over the phone. We kept the threatening letters, photos of the graffiti.
Angie: So, someone has been threatening the club regularly?
Glinda: Mm-hmm.
Angie: Do you know who it is?
Glinda: I'm assuming it's the same weirdo who stands outside every night "Protesting." You two are here about the threats, aren't you?
Will: I'm afraid not. I'm gonna need to see any security footage you have from tonight.
Glinda: Uh uh. We don't have cameras here. We get all kinds of guests, and not all of them are out.
Angie: No cameras. Perfect place for a murder.
Glinda: A murder?
Will: A woman was killed. We believe she was here tonight. Her name was Deirdre Ringgold.
Glinda: I have to tell Vibe.
Will: Who's Vibe?
Vibe/Gabe: Bonbon, did you steal my Dior blush aga-- You did! I can tell! That's my $20 spread across your thief face.
Glinda: Gabe. Sweetie. There's something I have to talk to you about. It's about your mother.
Vibe/Gabe: Oh, yeah?
Will: You're Deirdre's son?
Vibe/Gabe: Who are you?
Glinda: Gabe, honey... ...Your mother's been killed.
Vibe/Gabe: What?
Angie: I'm so sorry.
Will: Did you see her tonight?
Vibe/Gabe: Yeah. She was just here.
Will: Did she know you worked as a drag queen?
Glinda: She may have been able to put that together, yeah. I think that's enough questions for tonight.
Will: Hang on. We just have a couple more.
Glinda: The kid's mother just died. He needs space. And if you're gonna continue interrogating him, he needs an attorney.
Glinda (Kenneth Mosley) is a lawyer by day whose real name is Josiah and he ends up representing Gabe (Garrett Richmond). When Will (Ramón Rodríguez) seems surprised he’s a lawyer, Josiah remarks, “I'm a lawyer and a performer, and I have a rich romantic life. I'm a five-season Shonda Rhimes show.” Who wants to tell him that last part isn’t a compliment?
The GBI team interviews Gabe with his lawyer in one room and Gabe’s stepfather Dalton (Pete Burris) and sister Rowan (Gillian Rabin) in another. Dalton gives mean, cold, blowhard vibes, which is the typical Hollywood caricature for a white, Christian man.
Dalton: We all know Gabe did this!
Gabe: My father died when I was five. Deirdre married Dalton not long after that. He wasn't the easiest man to relate to, but... We did go to the shooting range together.
Dalton: He was a good shot. Then he traded in his guns for hosiery.
Gabe: I don't know what Dalton hated more -- the fact that I was gay or that I was a better shot than him.
Will: When was the last time you saw your mother?
Will: Last night. She came to the club. I hadn't seen that woman since I was 15. Like, I was shocked. She said that she wanted to apologize.
Rowan: Mom would never do that.
Dalton: We have no hate in our hearts... But the Bible's clear. The thing about Gabe was you couldn't trust him. I caught him trying to steal Deirdre's diamond necklace and earrings once.
Gabe: My dad left those to my mom before he died. I was just trying them on.
Dalton: Rowan was supposed to wear that set on her wedding day.
Angie: What was Deirdre apologizing for?
Gabe: The night they kicked me out, Deirdre and I were arguing at the top of the stairs, and... I pushed her. And then suddenly she's falling, and she broke her wrist.
Dalton: Put her in the hospital! The kid was unstable. I was glad when he ran away.
Gabe: They kicked me out that night.
Faith: Rowan... Is that how you remember it?
Rowan: Gabe looks out for Gabe.
Gabe: I told Ro that I would come back for her, but I was living in a shelter, doing drugs, and I was in no position to care for her. It wasn't until I found the drag club that my whole life turned around. They saved me.
Josiah: We're family.
So, the drag queens are kind-hearted saviors while the parents are mean, evil Christians. No agenda here, right? The left isn’t trying to divide families and parents from their children at all, right?
Also, why did the writers have Gabe admit he physically assaulted his mother and put her in the hospital as the answer to why his mother was apologizing? And why are we supposed to believe he was kicked out for being gay, when in fact it was because he assaulted his mother? Make it make sense.
Security footage later turns up showing Deidre punching the protester outside the club, so the team goes to question him:
Barrett: We will not stand for this sexual perversion! These drag queens are tearing apart our social fabric and corrupting our children!
Josiah: What children, man? This is a bar.
Bon Bon: I wish you would stop spray painting our walls. My nail beds weren't made for this much hard labor.
Faith: Barrett Fairhope? Special Agent Faith Mitchell, GBI. We're gonna need you to come with us.
Josiah: Oh, Barrett Fairhope! All this time, you never introduced yourself. No? Girl, are you finally gonna arrest him? 'Cause I got to get this.
Faith: Okay, nobody's getting arrested today.
Michael: I need to ask you a few questions. About your French braids.
Bon Bon: Wow. I had a dream that started this way once.
Barrett: What is this all about?
Faith: Okay, we just have some questions about an altercation you had with Deirdre Ringgold last night.
Barrett: I had nothing to do with that woman's death.
Josiah: This is Barrett Fairhope, everybody. Wonder if his boss would like to see what he does with his spare time.
Barrett: Don't you dare.
Josiah: What, are you afraid your personal life is gonna disrupt your work?
Faith: Okay. Okay.
Barrett: You don't intimidate me.
Josiah: And you don't intimidate me.
Barrett: This is my constitutional right!
Faith: Okay. Now you're under arrest. Come on.
Josiah: Love to see it. Oh, yes. Let's go. Walk, honey. Walk. Walk. Silver's your color, sugar.
Bon Bon: Absolutely.
Josiah: Oh, yes. Mwah!
Yes, Hollywood wants you to believe that the good citizens of this country who don’t care what adults do in their private/leisure time, but are concerned about children being sexualized, are actually very bad, angry bigots who would destroy property and scream into a bullhorn outside of a drag club where everyone is an adult. #eyeroll
Michael (Jake McLaughlin) ends up playing 'Good Cop' when he questions Barrett and gets him to admit he’s the one who’s been calling in the bomb threats to the club and painting graffiti on it:
Michael: Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting. You wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork I have to do just to talk to someone. No one lets cops be cops anymore.
Barrett: I say that all the time.
Michael: FYI, I already confiscated the video that guy took.
Barrett: Oh, my God. Thank you.
Michael: So, uh, what can you tell me about the conversation you had with Deirdre?
Barrett: Yeah. So I was, um, passing out flyers. I gave her one. She stomped on it, so I got in her face.
Michael: And then she hit you?
Barrett: Yeah. Yeah, she was crazy.
Michael: And then what? You followed her?
Barrett: No, no, no. I went to urgent care. Yeah. Lunatic was wearing rings. I had to get two stitches, but I never, never saw that woman again.
Michael: Yeah. Look, I'm sorry I have to ask, but you don't happen to own a .380, do you?
Barrett: No, I do not need a gun to get my point across.
Michael: Yeah. Hey. Between us, I was admiring your work. The graffiti. That was you, right?
Barrett: Yeah.
Michael: One day I'd like to shut that place down for good.
Barrett: You wanna know what works?
Michael: What?
Barrett: A little phone call here and there.
Michael: A bomb threat?
Barrett: Oh, yeah.
Michael: Nice.
Barrett: They always close for the night.
Michael: Alright, well, you've given me all I need. Thank you very much.
Barrett: Yeah. Alright. Does it -- So it means I can go?
Amanda: Well, not yet. I'm bringing you in on new charges -- felony vandalism, harassment, terroristic threats. Oh, and I'm writing up a restraining order. You're not going within 500 feet of that club.
Michael: You might want to take up a new hobby, Barrett.
Notice how Barrett was against anti-cop culture? I’m surprised they didn’t make him pro-life, too.
The GBI team later learns that Deidre was almost killed by a drunk driver. Angie (Erika Christensen) asks, “So her near-death experience made her suddenly, what, love the gays?” (Again, the dialogue doesn’t make sense since Gabe was kicked out for being violent, not gay.)
Eventually, they realize Rowan was the culprit. She was resentful for not being able to see her brother or even speak his name so, when she found out her mother was going to the club to see him, she got angry and shot her.
As for Barrett, he somehow shows up at the club again and puts a knife to Glinda/Josiah’s throat, blaming him for costing Barrett his job. So, now he’s an attempted murderer, too.
In addition to Barrett being against anti-cop culture, there was also a lot of anti-cop rhetoric throughout the episode. Will gets called a “dirty a*s cop” by one of his uncle’s friends. He defends himself well, but adds, “I’m not stupid. I know what folks go through with law enforcement.”
Later, Will argues to his assistant that his uncle wouldn’t want to go to a party because, “everyone there is gonna be a cop.” His assistant replies, “He'll come. I'm coming. You think I like cops?”
So, the cop-hating assistant works for a cop? Apparently, the writers want us to believe that Will and his colleagues are special and an exception, so we don’t get the “wrong” idea that most cops are good people and heroes just like Will when we watch the show.
Would we expect anything less from a Hollywood production on a Disney-owned network?
